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Amuru, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Amuru district Covid-19 taskforce has stopped all medical workers who skipped vaccination against coronavirus from accessing health facilities. The Covid-19 taskforce arrived at the decision on Tuesday and will start enforcing it on Friday this week.
The Resident District Commissioner, Geoffrey Osborn Ocheng, who also doubles as Amuru district Covid-19 taskforce chairperson told URN this morning that they gave the medical workers four days to take the jab, which has elapsed today.
He says that no health worker will be allowed to access any health facility in the district without presenting their Covid-19 vaccination certificate.
Amuru has so far lost one senior medical officer to COVID-19 while 11 others are battling the virus under home based care management. The district has cumulatively registered 66 community infections.
Dr. Patrick Odong Olwedo, the Amuru District Health Officer says that the new directive is aimed at saving the lives of patients and medical workers.
He explained that 80% of the patients who tested positive for COVID-19 didn’t present any symptoms, which he says exposes health workers to the risk of infection. “We are compiling their records to ascertain the number that has embraced the vaccination and those are the numbers that will access the facilities,” Dr. Olwedo said.
Only about 10 percent of the 344 medical workers deployed in 33 health facilities in the district have reportedly taken the coronavirus jab. Gloria Akao, the in-charge Awee health centre II in Lamogi sub county says that all the 11 health workers at the facility have taken their first dose of the vaccine and are waiting for the second jab.
“We have seen deaths and infections amongst health workers and that should have encouraged many of us to take this opportunity of the vaccination,” Akao added. She however noted that much as the directive is geared towards protecting lives, it may have an adverse impact on health service delivery.
According to the RDC, the district has 320 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which have been spared for health workers and teachers.
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